Ecotech

office: Thomas Herzog + Partners (BRD)

Ecological building and High-tech are not opposites, according to Thomas Herzog, an architect with a passion for technique and construction. According to Herzog conventional building methods are not satisfactory anymore from an ecological point of view and therefore the Herzog + Partners agency from Munich is experimenting with new building products, energy concepts and constructions.

Herzogs' interest in experimental building methods stems from the 1970's. Inspired by Frei Otto's roofs for the Olympic stadium in Munich and other experiments with super light building systems, Herzog was promoted on pneumatic constructions in 1972. After this experimental building method came to a deadlock with the unavoidable large energy-requirements, Herzog began to reorient himself. This led to the formation of the Herzog + Partners agency which initially focussed upon researching new building materials and -techniques. As a result of this the 'Holzbauatlas' was created in co-operation with Engineer Julius Natterer, which in the meantime has become a standard work for wood constructions.

Design is just too often fashion sensitive and is not capable to accommodate generations with different mentalities. In his first design this conception resulted in a fondness for the square and rigid systematics. His later works still have the consciously chosen neutrality but are more differentiated in form and material. The balance between obsessive systematic and precision goes to a refined architecture. Love for technique and renewal must not end in an obsession, according to Herzog. Where low-tech means can be used, he will use them, such as in the home in Regensburg.

The foliage of the trees around the house keeps the sun out in the summer while in the winter the bare branches allow enough sunlight to pass through to heat the conservatories around the house. After a long lead-time in which only a few smaller projects were realised, in 1996 the agency has delivered Design Centre Linz, Austria and last year finished the exhibition buildings for the Hannover Messe. Herzog's dream is to design a skyscraper comparable to the office tower in Frankfurt designed by Norman Foster. A design that according to Herzog still doesn't go far enough.